WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Know yourself: Mission statements

@metadata	sourceLanguage "en" priorityLanguages "es" "fr" "ar" "ru" "zh" allowOnlyPriorityLanguages true description "video in Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - Basics of partnership building for Wikimedia volunteers, with computer-graded exercises." label "WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Know yourself: Mission statements"
display_name	"Know yourself: Mission statements"
subtitle-90-8790-1	"Today, we will talk about how we prepare to partner, because preparation is half the"
subtitle-8790-12360-2	"victory, as Miguel de Cervantes says."
subtitle-12540-20850-3	"So the first step in preparing is to know ourselves, even before we look at our"
subtitle-20850-29580-4	"prospective partners and in the oracle at the Temple of Apollo, at Delphi in Greece,"
subtitle-30510-35850-5	"visitors were famously greeted, first of all, by this great ancient advice: "Gnothi"
subtitle-35850-40020-6	"seauton": know yourself."
subtitle-41000-42200-7	"Know yourself."
subtitle-43370-45710-8	"And that is what we will start with as well ."
subtitle-45850-52880-9	"Before we start looking for partners, we have to make sure we know ourselves, OK, how do we"
subtitle-52880-55030-10	"do that? What do I mean?"
subtitle-55040-58310-11	"So there's several tools to get to know ourselves."
subtitle-59270-63800-12	"And I'm going to cover in some detail two of them; there are others, but I'm going to"
subtitle-63800-69890-13	"cover two of them. And the first is a mission statement which establishes your"
subtitle-69890-73970-14	"group's basic identity and long term truth."
subtitle-74390-79460-15	"It is something that doesn't change very often, and it can be like a compass that you"
subtitle-79460-84830-16	"can always... It always points north; You can always find where you're supposed to be"
subtitle-84830-87260-17	"heading using your mission statement."
subtitle-89690-94860-18	"And the second tool we'll discuss today is a SWOT analysis."
subtitle-94880-99290-19	"Again, this is something that may be familiar to some of you, and that is useful"
subtitle-99290-105770-20	"to evaluate your current position and your positive and negative potentials."
subtitle-105800-111110-21	"So unlike the mission statement, which is sort of identifying a destination like"
subtitle-111110-120280-22	"something far away that you are driving towards SWOT is one tool out of many others."
subtitle-120290-127250-23	"It's one tool that helps you take stock of this moment in time and assess what potential"
subtitle-127790-132840-24	"changes good and bad are on the horizon at the moment."
subtitle-132860-134300-25	"So it's a very different tool."
subtitle-134300-136700-26	"Both of them are useful in knowing ourselves."
subtitle-137570-139790-27	"And let's dive right in."
subtitle-140780-147530-28	"So a mission statement – again, this may be familiar to you, or it may feel very alien to"
subtitle-147530-152150-29	"you; Maybe you feel, oh yeah, mission statements, these are things that, you know,"
subtitle-152150-153800-30	"American organizations have on their websites."
subtitle-154640-156140-31	"It's next to meaningless."
subtitle-156140-158330-32	"And, you know, maybe you think that."
subtitle-158330-162860-33	"So I want to suggest to you that a mission statement is actually useful, which is not to"
subtitle-162860-166250-34	"say that there aren't some mission statements that really are kind of useless"
subtitle-166250-168080-35	"because not a lot of thought has gone into them."
subtitle-168500-171950-36	"But a good mission statement is quite a useful tool."
subtitle-172310-179210-37	"The mission statement is a short text that expresses what your group does, how it does"
subtitle-179210-187300-38	"it, for whom it does it, and why you try to capture all these elements in a short text."
subtitle-187310-189010-39	"And that is your mission statement."
subtitle-189020-193610-40	"And I want to parenthetically say something about "your group" when I say your group in"
subtitle-193610-199580-41	"these lessons. I'm talking about whatever context makes sense for you."
subtitle-199760-201890-42	"It can be your affiliate."
subtitle-202100-204590-43	"It can be your editor community."
subtitle-204590-209210-44	"Even if you don't have an affiliate, it can be some specific group within your affiliate,"
subtitle-209210-213620-45	"like you and your three friends who want to do a project together."
subtitle-213620-218810-46	"Whatever is relevant for you as a group, I'm going to say the group, but I mean an"
subtitle-218810-224180-47	"organization with employees just as much as I mean three people with an idea; whatever"
subtitle-224180-226910-48	"your group is, whatever the relevant context is for you."
subtitle-226940-232070-49	"So when I say – when I give you an exercise to do something about your group, you tell me"
subtitle-232520-233790-50	"what group that is right."
subtitle-233810-238330-51	"You tell me whether it's your affiliate or your community or your people in your city,"
subtitle-238340-241460-52	"whatever makes sense to you in a Wikimedia context."
subtitle-243140-247820-53	"Now, the mission statement of your group needs to be like a capsule version – a highly"
subtitle-247820-251630-54	"condensed version – of what might be a talk about your group."
subtitle-251630-257900-55	"So maybe you have a potential half hour talk or one hour talk about your group, its"
subtitle-257900-261320-56	"history and its projects and its successes and what it wants to do and what it likes to"
subtitle-261320-266620-57	"do. You need to create a capsule version of that, a very, very condensed version of that,"
subtitle-266630-268130-58	"almost like a business card."
subtitle-268700-270670-59	"And that is your mission statement."
subtitle-270680-276170-60	"And I want to suggest to you that it's worth investing time spending some time building a"
subtitle-276170-281150-61	"mission statement if you don't already have one because it is like a compass, because you"
subtitle-281150-282610-62	"can always return to it."
subtitle-282620-288710-63	"And when you are faced with a new opportunity or a new idea or a request from someone, you"
subtitle-288710-294980-64	"can always kind of hold it alongside your mission statement and say: Well, is this"
subtitle-294980-296180-65	"serving my mission?"
subtitle-296180-298130-66	"Is this promoting my mission?"
subtitle-298130-300740-67	"Is this bringing me closer to this mission or not?"
subtitle-300740-306140-68	"But it helps orient: you out of all the things that you COULD be doing – is this"
subtitle-306140-307640-69	"something that I should be doing?"
subtitle-307640-311090-70	"Is this really something I should be spending time on?"
subtitle-311510-313580-71	"So a mission statement can really help with that."
subtitle-314210-320380-72	"And let's dig a little deeper into the elements of the mission statement."
subtitle-320390-322040-73	"How do we build a mission statement?"
subtitle-324280-329950-74	"So we have a question here on the chat, what is the difference between the mission and the"
subtitle-329950-331150-75	"vision statement?"
subtitle-331180-332950-76	"An excellent question."
subtitle-333520-336070-77	"Not all organizations have a vision statement."
subtitle-337780-346900-78	"The vision, as commonly understood, is like an even shorter text that describes a desired"
subtitle-346900-348310-79	"state of affairs."
subtitle-349350-357600-80	"And that's it. It describes what we want, not what we are doing towards that future,"
subtitle-357720-359880-81	"right? Just what is the aim?"
subtitle-359880-364710-82	"What is the faraway mountain that we are headed towards is a vision."
subtitle-364710-366260-83	"It can be very aspirational."
subtitle-366270-370770-84	"It doesn't have to be very pragmatic, realistic, on budget, et cetera."
subtitle-370890-375510-85	"It's a vision. And of course, a good example of that is the Wikimedia vision, which I'm"
subtitle-375510-378420-86	"sure you all know, the Wikimedia vision reads:"
subtitle-379290-387240-87	""Imagine a world in which every single human being has access to the sum of all knowledge."
subtitle-387840-389100-88	"That's our commitment,", right?"
subtitle-389100-390810-89	"That's the that's the vision statement."
subtitle-390960-393090-90	"Ok? "Imagine a world", it says."
subtitle-393090-394380-91	"It doesn't say we live in that world."
subtitle-394380-395490-92	"We certainly don't."
subtitle-395520-397870-93	"But it says that's where we're headed."
subtitle-397890-404820-94	"We are heading to a world in which one day every single person will have access to the"
subtitle-404820-408050-95	"sum of all knowledge. Ok, that's the vision, that's it."
subtitle-408070-411610-96	"It doesn't say what we're doing about it, it doesn't say how we're doing it."
subtitle-412000-413350-97	"That's the vision statement."
subtitle-413380-419620-98	"Ok? A mission statement actually is more concrete than the vision statement, and I'm"
subtitle-419620-423080-99	"going to walk you through some of the elements of a good mission statement."
subtitle-423100-430990-100	"First of all, what we do, what, what actions, what activities, what is the core"
subtitle-431140-434350-101	"activity, what is the core thing we do as a group?"
subtitle-435940-440200-102	"And ideally, you don't want to give a big list; you don't want to say, we do this and"
subtitle-440200-443880-103	"we do that and we do this and we do that and these five other things."
subtitle-443880-449410-104	"If you find yourself saying "well, we do eight things!", then try to generalize out of"
subtitle-449410-452890-105	"that. What is the common denominator of these eight things that you do?"
subtitle-453040-457870-106	"Maybe you do one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight, but all of them are"
subtitle-457870-464250-107	"essentially, Promoting free knowledge, or, all of them are about feeding the hungry."
subtitle-464670-469080-108	"Right, so I'm giving you quick examples here, not necessarily from Wikimedia context,"
subtitle-469620-473400-109	"deliberately in order to widen the discussion here, because of course, in"
subtitle-473400-476610-110	"Wikimedia, we all have similar mission statements."
subtitle-477630-483630-111	"So just to give you a broader sense, one organization's mission statement could be "we"
subtitle-483630-488210-112	"feed the hungry" or at least the WHAT part is "we feed the hungry"."
subtitle-488220-492360-113	"That's what we do. "We feed the hungry" or "we fight human trafficking"."
subtitle-492510-494460-114	"Right? This is what we do."
subtitle-496080-500850-115	"Another element of the mission statement is HOW we do it."
subtitle-501450-504090-116	"Ok, now that we know what you do, how do you do it?"
subtitle-504120-509040-117	"What are the methods? What are the ways in which you engage in what you do?"
subtitle-509340-515080-118	"And again, a clear statement of the main method or vehicle of that work."
subtitle-515100-519900-119	"Again, you may be doing 10 different approaches, but your main approach, your main"
subtitle-519900-522060-120	"tactic, the main thing that you do as an organization."
subtitle-523080-527910-121	"For example, we can say this "feeding the hungry" organization may be doing it by"
subtitle-527910-530100-122	"collecting and distributing spare food."
subtitle-530550-533770-123	"Right? I mean, that's one way to go about it, to go about feeding the hungry."
subtitle-533790-539670-124	"There could be other ways, like soliciting donations from people and buying food."
subtitle-539710-543900-125	"I mean, there could be other ways, but this is one way that this particular organization"
subtitle-543900-547320-126	"is feeding the hungry – collecting and distributing spare food."
subtitle-548550-557100-127	"Or someone can fight human trafficking by lobbying parliament and sponsoring research."
subtitle-558010-562740-128	"These are two things, but still these are the ways – these are the two main ways we"
subtitle-562740-564360-129	"fight human trafficking."
subtitle-566100-571860-130	"Ok, so that's the what and the how of the mission statement; and the two other elements"
subtitle-571860-578610-131	"I would recommend your mission statement have is WHOM we serve – who are the"
subtitle-578640-581490-132	"beneficiaries, or who is the audience of our work."
subtitle-582720-588960-133	"And for example, this feeding the poor effort may be serving Greater Delhi in India."
subtitle-589380-593840-134	"That's who they serve. They're not doing anything for hungry people in Bulgaria."
subtitle-593880-596250-135	"They're serving the Greater Delhi area."
subtitle-597060-605460-136	"Or maybe the human trafficking fighters are fighting it, especially protecting refugees"
subtitle-605460-610410-137	"in the European Union, or any other definition of the audience or beneficiaries"
subtitle-610410-617370-138	"of your work. Many of you may have a national scope of audience or maybe a"
subtitle-617370-619260-139	"cultural or linguistic scope, right?"
subtitle-619260-622410-140	"You serve anyone who speaks your language wherever they live."
subtitle-623910-628170-141	"But again, think about expressing it, somehow capturing the fact that this is about"
subtitle-628170-633060-142	"these people. It's powerful to literally name who we're doing this for."
subtitle-633840-636270-143	"And finally, WHY we do it."
subtitle-636270-639420-144	"So we said what we're doing and how we're doing it and whom we're doing it for."
subtitle-639450-640950-145	"And finally, why?"
subtitle-640950-642040-146	"What is the benefit?"
subtitle-642060-644810-147	"Why is it important that we do what we do?"
subtitle-644820-650160-148	"And you would be surprised how many mission statements actually leave out the why!"
subtitle-650790-652080-149	"Like, it's understood."
subtitle-652080-654660-150	"Like, you know, obviously human trafficking is bad."
subtitle-654660-657510-151	"Obviously, you know, people shouldn't be hungry."
subtitle-658110-662070-152	"So we're not even saying it, but I recommend that you DO say it."
subtitle-662100-666510-153	"I recommend that you do include in your mission statement, some kind of positive"
subtitle-666510-673650-154	"assertion of why it's important to do the work that you do, why you as an organization,"
subtitle-673650-676170-155	"as a group, are dedicated to this mission."
subtitle-676800-680730-156	"And this could take all kinds of phrases."
subtitle-680730-685410-157	"I'm offering you two examples here: "because there is enough food in the world, so no one"
subtitle-685410-687880-158	"should go hungry." Right?"
subtitle-688000-692740-159	"Think about it, it's not an obvious statement, I mean, you can agree that, OK,"
subtitle-692740-694630-160	"yeah, feeding the poor, feeding the hungry, we get it."
subtitle-694630-698800-161	"Obviously, that's a good thing, but this is making a very specific point: The point is"
subtitle-698800-700950-162	"that there doesn't NEED to be hunger, right?"
subtitle-700960-705580-163	"There is enough food in the world, and that's why we don't want anyone to go hungry."
subtitle-706700-712280-164	"Do you see the nuance that this adds, it's beyond the obvious "Oh yeah, of course."
subtitle-712280-717650-165	"Feeding the hungry, that's obviously good." It makes a moral point for why we do it."
subtitle-719120-723050-166	"And another example: "giving people who lost everything a dignified new beginning"."
subtitle-723080-726590-167	"Again, you might say: "Well, obviously, the refugees, we understand what refugees are"
subtitle-726590-732230-168	"like", et cetera, but again, saying it explicitly is powerful and should be part of"
subtitle-732230-733370-169	"a good mission statement."
subtitle-734510-740060-170	"So these are the four elements in terms of the substance, in terms of what it should"
subtitle-740060-744710-171	"contain. And now I want to offer you a couple of thoughts on how it should be"
subtitle-744710-751310-172	"phrased: So you want to make your mission statement ideally, first of all,"
subtitle-751310-757700-173	"understandable, which means trying to capture the essence of what you're doing."
subtitle-757700-763790-174	"These four questions, in as few and as simple words as possible."
subtitle-764750-769880-175	"Don't be tempted to write very florid prose, very sophisticated language."
subtitle-769880-772580-176	"You want it to be very simple, accessible language."
subtitle-774830-777380-177	"And yes, it depends on the intended audience."
subtitle-778610-782930-178	"Absolutely. Think of who you're writing this for, your mission statement, who you expect"
subtitle-782930-788600-179	"to read it. And there may be multiple audiences, of course, but at the same time,"
subtitle-788600-794190-180	"it should be informative, meaning it should communicate some substance of what you do."
subtitle-794210-795370-181	"It shouldn't be too general."
subtitle-795380-799820-182	"I mean, if you just say: "Well, our mission is to do good in the world", you know, that's"
subtitle-799820-803870-183	"very nice, but it doesn't tell me anything about what you do."
subtitle-804590-806030-184	"HOW do you do good in the world?"
subtitle-806030-807640-185	"What kind of good do you do in the world?"
subtitle-807650-809020-186	"Maybe I don't think it's good."
subtitle-809030-814970-187	"You know, just saying something so general like "I want to do good in the world" is not"
subtitle-814970-816410-188	"a good mission statement, right?"
subtitle-816440-819730-189	"It's not informative. It doesn't give me the substance of what you do."
subtitle-819740-825020-190	"So you want it as simple as possible, but no simpler, as Einstein said."
subtitle-826070-830390-191	"And ideally, again, ideally – it's easier said than done – you want your mission"
subtitle-830390-831680-192	"statement to be memorable."
subtitle-831680-835910-193	"You want to use some descriptive language that can inspire action."
subtitle-835910-839240-194	"You want to make a point in a way that sticks in the memory."
subtitle-839600-845990-195	"For example, this example I gave about there being enough food in the world, and so nobody"
subtitle-845990-847490-196	"should go hungry."
subtitle-847570-852050-197	"I think it's a good example of something that's maybe memorable because to a person"
subtitle-852050-856580-198	"who has never had that particular thought, right, they know that there are hungry people"
subtitle-856580-860900-199	"in the world, but it never occurred to them that in terms of the amount of food available"
subtitle-860900-862790-200	"in the world, there is enough food to feed everyone!"
subtitle-864240-867510-201	"If that's the first time they're encountering this idea, it could really stick"
subtitle-867510-875040-202	"in their mind. And feed sympathy and understanding for your mission if your"
subtitle-875040-876540-203	"mission is to feed the hungry."
subtitle-880830-887790-204	"And finally, your mission statement should be phrased in a practical, concrete way,"
subtitle-887790-894300-205	"meaning it should be something that is obviously something your group specifically"
subtitle-894300-897300-206	"can meaningfully work on."
subtitle-897300-906930-207	"So for example, if I and two friends of mine who live in Israel have a dream: we want"
subtitle-906930-910080-208	"NASA to go to Jupiter."
subtitle-911030-916130-209	"That's our mission: we want to make sure the American space agency goes to Jupiter."
subtitle-916850-922790-210	"Now, we could write a mission statement like that, but it's not clear how our little group"
subtitle-922790-926000-211	"of three friends in Israel can meaningfully work on that, right?"
subtitle-926010-930770-212	"It's almost absurd if that's our mission statement, because anyone reading it will go"
subtitle-930770-937040-213	"well, you know, you don't get to influence what NASA does unless my mission statement"
subtitle-937040-938520-214	"shows how I do!"
subtitle-938520-945530-215	"Maybe my mission statement is very clever and shows how we can advocate and influence NASA"
subtitle-945530-947990-216	"in these ways, which will help them go to Jupiter."
subtitle-948470-953840-217	"Maybe. But it's an example of something that's probably not; There's no clear link."
subtitle-953840-960320-218	"There's no obvious practical relevance to the mission, relative to who we are as a"
subtitle-960320-966890-219	"group, which is another reason, by the way, you shouldn't automatically, for example,"
subtitle-966920-971270-220	"copy the Wikimedia Foundation's mission statement, because not everything that the"
subtitle-971270-978060-221	"Wikimedia Foundation is positioned to do, your group is positioned to do."
subtitle-978060-982490-222	"Which is one reason we want to customize the mission statement so that it really fits who"
subtitle-982490-987500-223	"we are and what we are doing and how we may be doing it, we are able to do it."
subtitle-987500-990350-224	"So this isn't directly related to phrasing."
subtitle-990350-995960-225	"It's more about how you need to, you need to show the reader that this mission statement"
subtitle-996110-997850-226	"is appropriate for your group."
subtitle-997850-1002410-227	"It's something that they can imagine your group meaningfully working on."
subtitle-1004090-1006730-228	"There was a question here with the various elements I've mentioned."
subtitle-1006760-1010010-229	"Is there a way to arrange information in a mission statement?"
subtitle-1010030-1012750-230	"Should the why come before the how and the what."
subtitle-1012750-1015100-231	"The answer to that is: No, there is no formula."
subtitle-1015880-1017680-232	"It really depends."
subtitle-1017710-1022950-233	"And this is where good writing skills come into the picture."
subtitle-1022960-1026920-234	"I mean, there's no easy, magical formula: "If you just plug these elements in this"
subtitle-1026920-1028870-235	"order, you'll have a great mission statement"."
subtitle-1029350-1031030-236	"Like I said, it needs to be inspiring."
subtitle-1031030-1036160-237	"It needs to read, you know, there's almost a rhythm to it."
subtitle-1036160-1043120-238	"So a good mission statement may take some wordsmithing, some configuration and"
subtitle-1043120-1045370-239	"rejiggering here and there."
subtitle-1045400-1049380-240	"There is no, no formula I can give you, but I do want to give you these elements."
subtitle-1049390-1055360-241	"And if you can find expressions, if you can find ways to express these different elements"
subtitle-1055390-1059800-242	"each on its own, then you can maybe start playing with how to put them together."
subtitle-1059830-1063100-243	"This before that, that before this, and you can even test it out, right?"
subtitle-1063100-1066130-244	"You can literally read it to people and say: "How does this sound?"
subtitle-1066160-1068230-245	"How does that sound? What do you think is more convincing?"
subtitle-1068230-1074020-246	"What do you think is more, I don't know, pleasant?" But yes, there is an art and not a"
subtitle-1074020-1078370-247	"science to the precise formulation of the mission statement."